Splatoon Manga: NightRoad

Chapter 23: Out

⭐️Chapter 23: Out

Meanwhile, Hachi was lost within the maze, but he didn't care. The maze contained stones with strange inscriptions on them, and pictures too. He only wished he knew what they meant. The rocks varied in kinds, as if the people who chipped the designs didn't really care what they were doing it on. He would keep these in mind for later. Well. If he had time later. After this whole ordeal was over, he might not be able to come back again.

Hachi had to admit, he did feel a little bad for leaving Nana there. He was lonely without her. But he had made his decision, and promised his return, so he stuck with it. He had already charged up his special for the case. He thought there would be a treasure in here, or a secret way out. But he could only find out if he walked. Of course, that's what he'd been doing, but...it got boring, fast. He was initially excited for this, but now...

There was no way he could climb over the hedges or onto them, even via inking because the vines wouldn't hold his weight. Not to mention, there was also no solid ground, just leaves and twigs. He hummed to himself, wondering if he could instead stack the stones and climb up. Anything to help him get to the top, to find a way out of this mess. He tried lifting the rocks, but...his body wasn't meant for that. Maybe, if Nana was here....

No.

Forget about it.

She wasn't coming. And Hachi wasn't getting out of this place easy, either.

He took a turn. Same old dirt path, same pebbles....Ugh! Well, at least he could still see the sky...but it seemed to be getting...orange? Oh no, was it going to be sundown soon?! He had to hurry, before the darkness made this maze a living nightmare. He began to dash through the paths, looking for any chance out early like a hole in the plants or something. He was worried, and his stress levels shot up. Shadowlings could prey on him, roots and pebbles would become invisible hazards...

He needed out.

Now.

Little did he know however, that Negro had just flown into a random part of the maze, unaware that Hachi was inside as well.

-----

"It's....it's you..." Gloves stuttered.

"Yeah. So? You got a problem with that?" Heise spoke in a calm manner.

"Well no, just..."

"Still upset we crashed your little party there?"

No smiles, but the ego was there.

"What?! Of course n-"

"You are, aren't you? And you've come here to argue about it."

Man, she left no breaks.

"WOULD YOU JUST SHUT U-"

Okay, that's it. Flip was going in.

"Gloves, stop it."

Flip figured that if Gloves was going to behave this badly, she might as well blow her cover to prevent things from worsening. Not something she wanted to do, but...oh well.

"Oh. So you're with this brat. You both mad or something?" Heise turned to her.

"No, Mr. Impatient here was upset with our method of travel and wanted to walk behind you."

"No need to tell me, I don't care."

It took all of Flip's energy to not slap this woman for being like this.

"We're just trying to get out of here, okay?" Flip said calmly.

"Okay. Whatever."

And Heise started down the path again. On the plus side, she wasn't attacking, but on the negative side? They were probably on thin ice. They continued on as usual. They wanted to ask questions, but were sure that Heise either wouldn't answer, wouldn't help, or would retaliate. So for the moment, they laid low and continued on. It was...awkward, to say the least, but yet it was...a tiny bit comforting?

Flip couldn't help but notice how Heise was literally just like her. Same short cut, same hat, same tank top and sneakers...probably same mannerisms if Flip was put in her situation. It was always weird to Flip how the shadowlings almost looked identical to them. Was this all part of a bigger plot? Were they supposed to be clones? Or was it just a simple coincidence? Hundreds of questions poured into Flip's head, and while she figured she could occupy herself with a few, well...now probably wasn't the time to be thinking about this. They needed to get to black forest, and they didn't even know if this was the right path or not!

Gloves meanwhile, was...less content than he thought he would be, grumbling to himself off the side of the path. He was looking away from the two girls, off to the side and towards the trees. I mean, yeah walking was better than stalking, but now he was on thin ice and this girl thought she could just talk down to him like that without letting him speak! Rude...

But hey, he asked for walking so he got walking. Not that he wanted it THIS way, of course. But oh well. When life gives you lemons and no sugar, you just suck on the lemon anyway because you need sustenance and you should be glad the world is giving you any form of liquid at all. And that's what Gloves did. He asked, he got. He looked for a possible way out while the others were walking, whether it be an obvious path or not. So far, nothing came up, only trees and bushes and flowers...

-----

"Oh look!"

Prince and Ebony had successfully made it out of the paths. The trail ahead was now clear, other than a medium sized peak shaped rock.

But they hesitated. Prince was supposed to shout and Ebony was supposed to send up a shadow flare. They had talked about this on their way there. They also had talked about keeping a 1v1 between the teammates to make it easier on them.

Who should go first...?

They couldn't risk the two teams finding them. So they decided to wait there, even though this path was the only one out.